New Addition
by atdanimefreak
Summary: Two new people enter Ranma Saotomes life in an unconventional way, making his complicated life even more chaotic. Original Characters.
1. Irritation

"Speech"

''Non-speech quotes''

"_Foreign language (not Japanese)"_

'Thoughts'

Sound

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Ranma Saotome, heir to the Saotome Tradition of Anything Goes Martial Arts, one of only two know aqua-transsexuals, fiancé to Akane Tendo, also fiancé to Ukyo Kuonji, husband (albeit only according to Chinese Amazon law) of Xian Pu (A.K.A. Shampoo) and consequently son-in-law (again, Chinese Amazon law) of the Amazon matriarch Kou Lun (A.K.A. Cologne, A.K.A. Granny, A.K.A. the Old Ghoul), Kodchi Kuno's love interest (oh the horror!), fiancé of thirty women he doesn't know (mostly because of one stupid, greedy, immoral, and hedonistic panda-man of a father), rival of Ryoga and Mus Shu, and man amongst men (even when he's a girl, thank-you very much), was irritated.

Kasumi had asked him to go pick up some vegetables for dinner, and Ranma, always ready to help out for a good cause, especially when that cause was one of Kasumi's Home Cooked Meals™, readily agreed (not what he was irritated about). This found him in the North Market carrying two bags of groceries, and struggling with his temper.

Ranma was irritated because he was being tailed, and that always ended badly. He was irritated because the month was almost up, and he had been so tantalizingly close to achieving a record low of only two major ordeals this month, and this had the makings of a major ordeal.

He knew the two young people behind him were following someone because they were doing an extremely poor job of it. Whenever he looked at them they always were looking at a vendor, or a fountain, or any number of distractions but, when he saw them in a reflective surface they were whispering and pointing in his general direction. He had futilely hoped that his pursuers had been following someone else. Up until the last turn he had made, it had been possible that they had been following the old lady with the umbrella. It had been possible, but not likely considering his luck in the past.

Ranma made a quick decision, ducked into a garbage strewn ally, hid the bags under a broken pallet leaning against the right hand building, scaled the opposite wall, and took up a strategic position on a roof high above.

The two youths hurriedly rounded the corner, and entered the ally. Seeing no-one they stopped short, as the other side of the ally was blocked. Ranma took the opportunity their stunted silence granted and evaluated them both. He decided that they couldn't be older than thirteen and, while he could tell one was female and the other was male, apart from slightly different styles of hair, they would look identical to the untrained eye.

Most people who saw the twins, for that was what they surly were, next to each other would have difficulty indicating which gender either teen was. Ranma, however, was something of an expert on the subject, having learned his lesson from Ukyo, and since he himself could turn sexes at the drop of a bucket (literally).

From his vantage point on the roof Ranma used his highly trained eye to determine their ability in the art. 'The sister is more advanced,' Ranma thought, 'But even Akane could take them both, separate or together.' Ranma paused his train of thought and squinted in concentration, 'They look familiar too.'

Unable to place them, Ranma moved on to an analysis of their clothing. Both wore conservative, if a bit thread-bare, American style dress shirts and slacks, the male version of a school uniform in Japan. 'Too restrictive for free movement,' Ranma thought disapprovingly from his perch.

Both also had the remarkably black, straight hair and dark eyes of most Japanese. The boy wore his in a simple, if shiny and perfectly groomed, pony tail that looked like it reached at least to his back. The girl wore her hair in a close cropped spiky style, and Ranma found himself thinking that Principle Kuno would have liked her, since her hair was even shorter than what he called for.

The boy turned his head and spoke to his sister in a whisper, "He is gone."

"He cannot be gone," the girl said sounding as if she were also trying to convince herself of this, "I'm sure it is him. Come, help me search for him."

The twins started at the mouth of the ally where they stood, and investigated every piece of garbage that could conceivably have held a human form. Ranma cursed under his breath as they moved the broken pallet and found the groceries. He had been hoping to pick the bags up after they left and be on his way. That looked like it was no longer an option. Ranma assessed his options and, coming to the unhappy conclusion that he needed to confront his pursuers, silently jumped down just outside of both twins peripheral vision.

"Only his things," the girl said, poking through the produce with her brother, "but if his things are here he must be too."

"What do you want," Ranma said as softly as he could.

The twins screamed in stereo.

"YAHHHHHHHHH!"

Swish

Thunk

"OW!OW!OW!OW!"

Groan

Ranma was expecting a surprised reaction, and he was not disappointed. The boy attempted to spin around in place, but only managed to trip himself. On his way down he had managed to avoid landing on the groceries, but struck his head on the brick wall.

The girl's reaction was slightly more spectacular in Ranma's opinion. She had jumped five feet in the air from a standing position, an impressive height considering her apparent lack of advanced training, but landed wrong. Ranma winced in sympathy at what looked like at least a painful sprain.

Holding back laughter despite the seriousness of the situation, Ranma moved to help the boy first, who was attempting to sit up, as head injuries where always very serious. "Here let me heh heh... let me help," Ranma said offering the boy support, as his sister whimpered slightly in the background. "Can you see how many fingers I'm holding up?" Ranma held three fingers five inches in front of the boys face, and watched his eyes. The boy blinked several times, groaned again, and attempted to focus on the fingers.

"Three, I think," he whispered. Suddenly the boy's cheeks bulged, he turned his head, leaned down and became physically ill (thankfully not on the bags).

"Stay here, don't move," Ranma said unnecessarily, "you have a concussion. I'll go check on your sister," Ranma got up, and moved over to his other triage patient.

Groan

When he turned around he saw the girl was trying to gingerly move her leg out form under herself, but wasn't having much success as she was wedged against a wall. Wordlessly, Ranma grabbed her arms, lifted her up, and set her down again, this time with the injured leg laid out in front.

"Tell me if this hurts," Ranma said.

"OW! OW! OW! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! STOP!" she screamed, tears coming to her eyes.

Ranma already had, in fact he had barley tapped her ankle. "It's broken," he said mater-of-factly, "I need to get both of you to a doctor."

Ranma knew that, while the girl's broken ankle was more painful, the boy's concussion was far more serious. Complicating maters, the only doctor Ranma knew in the city was Dr. Tofu, who was fifteen miles away. Ranma made another quick decision, went over and picked up the bags, and slid the handle up his arm. He then went back to the girl and squatted down with his back to her.

"Wrap your arms round my neck," Ranma told her, which she did, after some mild protest about helping her brother first. "I know, we're all going, now wrap the good leg around my waist," the girl did this as well, this left her with three points of contact, and her bad leg a couple inches off the ground. "Okay, your going to have to raise the bad leg up once we get going so you don't hurt it," Ranma saw her bit her lower lip and nod in his peripheral vision. "What are your names?"

"I'm Kentaro," she whispered, "this is Kato," she pointed from where her hands were around his neck.

Ranma turned his head to the girl and flashed an impish smile. His smile had gotten him out of almost as much trouble as it had gotten him into, and he knew it. "Look, if your father and my father arranged for us to be married, I'm taken by at least... um... four girls, I think? That I know of anyway."

"I'm not... What... Whoa!" Kentaro, if that was her real name (something Ranma doubted), nearly lost her grip as she tried to stammer out a response. Replacing her grip and finding some of her composure, she continued, "What kind of sick guy are you! I'm a boy! And how can you be engaged to more than one girl?"

"Firstly, if you're a boy, I'm a tree stump," Ranma shot back, getting irritated again, "and secondly it wasn't my doing." ''Kentaro'' looked away and blushed, making Ranma feel bad. "Look if, you want to dress like a boy it's not a big deal, my best friend does it all the time. Now I need you to raise your leg."

As soon as she had Ranma crouched down to her brother and put his hands on the boy's shoulders. The boy raised his head from where he had let it rest against his chest, opened his eyes, and tried to focus on Ranma. "Kato, I'm going to pick you up, OK?" The younger boy looked past Ranma at his sister, who Ranma felt nod, and then nodded himself. Ranma moved to the side, slid one arm under his legs, the other behind his back, and lifted the boy effortlessly.

"How are you doing this?" Kentaro whispered from her place on his back.

"Training, and this ain't nothin'," Ranma said, flashing his smile again.

Ranma turned his head back around to Kato, and saw the boys head had limply fallen back. "Hey Kato," Ranma said jostling the boy, who lifted his head and opened his eyes, "I need you to stay awake, can you do that?" The injured boy nodded.

"OK, Kentaro," Ranma turned his head again, "keep that leg up. Here we go!"

With only a little effort Ranma leapt nine feet up at one of the walls of the ally, and pushed off towards the other one, repeating this until he had gained the roof.

"AHHHHHH! AHHHHHH! AHHHHHH! AHHHHHH!" ''Kentaro'' screamed in his ear the whole way up, while her brother began retching again (thankfully it seemed he had left his lunch on the pavement below). On the roof Ranma paused and waited for her to stop.

"Could you not do that in my ear?" the girl nodded wide-eyed, and Ranma took off, roof hoping towards Dr. Tofu's office.

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Author's notes: Hi, I'm back! The long pause between this and my last post is due to the 'rents deciding that they don't like me "doing Anime", or, by extension Fanfiction. I went away to university about a week ago. Now, no longer under their roof I feel I can do whatever I want.

Blows a raspberry in parent's general direction

This is a rewrite/re-plot of Nadoka's Secret, which is now the only other Fic I've got posted. As this is a rewrite, if you have read Nadoka's Secret, don't assume anything stays the same. Also, I promise, New Addition will last longer than Secret but, since classes started today, will be updated only sporadically.

As always, please post a review or, send comments and criticism to my e-mail (in my profile). However if you do make a comment, good or bad, please give details.


	2. Shock

"Speech"

''Non-speech quotes''

"_Foreign language(not Japanese)"_

'Thoughts'

Sound

Special thanks to SSokolow, my new pre-reader.

- - -

Dr. Tofu Ono's practice was a charming and peaceful place. A felling of calm, quiet, and tranquility flowed into his patients even before they stepped onto the bricks of the front garden patio. The single small waiting room held only a few chairs, an end table, and a single abstract painting done in soothing shades. Indeed, the good Doctor had calculated this effect to help relax his patients, and let their Ki flow in more natural patterns. The calm and quiet of the neighborhood was an essential part of this process.

"Yo! Doc! I got patients for ya!"

Of course, things like calm, quiet, and tranquility never last around Ranma Saotome.

- - -

Dr. Tofu, the youngest Master ever of the Art of Shiatsu and Ki adept, used his fingers and his life energy, or Ki, to feel the injury to Kato's head. Thankfully the break he found in the boys skull was very small, it already seemed to be healing. The doctor used a microscopic portion of his Ki, so small only another Master of Ki manipulation would have been able to detect it, and directed it at a point just below and behind the ear.

"Should you not x-ray the injury?" the girl seated in the corner of the simple examination room asked.

"Miss, I'm sorry but this is a very delicate procedure and I need you to remain quite while I work." Tofu admonished the young girl, "Manipulation of a person's Ki can have a vast array of side effects, and I need to concentrate."

The girl opened her mouth, closed it, sniffed indignantly, and turned her head away.

Tofu resumed is examination of the boy, tracing the Ki paths on his charges head. The boy's concussion was only moderate, and the feeling of nausea and vertigo would where off completely by itself in a few hours. To help speed up that process, and to lower the stress on the boy's body, the doctor had put him to sleep earlier using another point on the boy's upper back.

"I'm done now," the Doctor told his other patient moments later, "you can talk all you like while I re-wash my hands. I'll examine you next."

"What did you do?" the girl who had identified herself as ''Kentaro'' (strictly a boy's name) asked incredulously. "And how did you make my brother sleep?" She had never seen an examination of its kind, let alone a similar practice.

Ranma had taken them to the doorstep of this place that, aside from its sign, seemed like nothing more that a private home, and yelled for a Doctor Tofu. The man before her, who she assumed to be said Doctor, had rushed out immediately, taken one look at her brother in Ranma's arms and herself on his back, and led the martial artist back to this room. After laying the groaning and heaving Kato, as she had identified him, out on the table, and carefully placing her in the chair she currently occupied, Ranma had left the room. The girl felt it unlikely that the young Man would return, considering the fact that she and her brother had underhandedly attempted to follow him back at the market.

After Ranma left, the doctor had spent a few seconds staring at her brother, as if he were scrutinizing a particularly stubborn knot he meant to untie. He then moved forward and touched the boy's back. Kato had instantly relaxed and fallen asleep. The doctor then had placed his hands on the boys head and closed his eyes, not to reopen them for several minutes. His hands had then begun to move in intricate patterns on the boy's head, almost like a dance.

The girl shook her head to clear the daydream, and continued her interrogation of the doctor.

"And do not tell me it's Ki, magic, or any number of fairy-tales," the girl continued, "I am not a little child, nor am I superstitious, I do not believe in that nonsense."

"Then perhaps a demonstration is in order," the young doctor said suddenly smiling with a glint in his eyes.

The sudden change of expression on the young doctor's face made the girl nervous. It wasn't maniacal, just friendly and humorous, but it felt as if he was making fun of her.

"Actually, your attitude is quite refreshing," he continued, as he moved from the sink where he had just finished washing his hands, towards the girl, "most of my new patients just take it at face value, and don't question me at all." The doctor now stood in front of her and crouched down in front of her. "May I?" he asked looking it to her face.

The girl looked askance at him, not sure what he was referring to.

"Your ankle? I believe that's what your here for," the doctor said in a kindly voice.

The girl blushed and hesitantly offered her injured leg. "Be gentle, any amount of pressure at all hurts badly."

"Thank-you," the doctor said as he seized her ankle.

The girl hissed expecting agony, as she had any time she even moved her ankle. Instead it felt numbing, like ice, but warm. Immediately the pressure and light burning sensation she had felt in her ankle from the swelling went away, and when she looked down her ankle seemed normal, if a little flush.

"How did you do that?"

"Oh, I just used a pressure point on your lower calf to release the excess blood it had built up to protect your bones from further injury," the doctor said casually. "Normally a little swelling is important to the healing process, but in this case it impedes my ability to detect exactly what's wrong with you. Now, I'm going to examine and manipulate your Ki, so please be calm and quiet."

The doctor closed his eyes and 'felt the force' as one popular American sci-fi movie put it. The flow of Ki through ''Kentaro's'' ankle was a mish-mash of crossed signals and loose ends, like a bowl of noodles. Dr. Tofu's goal was not to fix all the little problem's that arose, but rather to cut through the mess and find the root cause. Once the root problem was fixed, the rest would sort itself out.

- - -

Ranma Saotome sat in the waiting room of Doctor Tofu's practice. He had been here many times before, but the experience from this side of the inner door was new to him. Normally he was the one suffering from some malady, with hangers-on waiting to hear the news. He decided he didn't like this any better.

The thought of employing the Saotome Secret Technique (bravely running), once he had delivered the injured siblings, had been a tempting one, but ultimately impossible for him. There was the possibility that the doctor would just tell his patients where he lived, and Ranma wasn't sure he wanted the kind of people who would trail him for no good reason to have that information.

Also, Ranma had taken it upon himself to get these two kids help, feeling that it was his fault they were injured. While he did believe they had deserved to be startled out of their wits for sneaking around like they had, the injures they had received far outstripped the punishment they deserved.

'Plus they probably don't even know where we are in the city,' Ranma mused, 'and I doubt that ''Kentaro'' will be able to walk back home. I wonder what her real name-'

"Ranma," the doctor's head popped around the door frame leading to the hall of rooms the doctor used for his patients, "you can come back here now."

"Sure Doc," the teenage marital artist replied, following Tofu. 'Now for some answers.'

As Ranma entered the exam room he saw that only one of the twins was conscious. She sat in a chair in the corner of the room with a look on here face of one whose world had just been turned upside down. "So I guess you were a straight, huh?" Ranma asked the girl with a characteristic smirk.

The girl immediately sat up straight in her chair and sent a smoldering look Ranma's way. "Is that supposed to be some kind of insult?"

"Nope... well, not really. Ya see, some people go their entire lives thinking that there are limits to what the human body can do, and that Martial Arts is like a self defense/sport, we call em' straights. Martial Arts are more than that, for me at least." Ranma explained, after getting a nod from the doctor and taking up a position against the wall. Not so coincidentally, his position allowed him to watch everyone in the room, the door, and the window and also offered him a clear path to said window. "In most cases the straights are right. Almost everyone does have a limit, but only because they set it for themselves.

"People see movie stars like Bruce Lee, at least what he does in his movies, and think that is the epitome of the art. Mostly because they don't see anyone better," Ranma smirked again, "like me. Anyway, there will almost always be someone better you can learn from, set the limit higher. But some of us try to train as if there is no limit, like the Doc here, an' me. Almost nobody can.

"In the past, the masters tried to hide their level of skill. They perform the art in front of people, but do it... not poorly, but without the skill that makes them a Master. Now me," Ranma said, pointing a thumb at himself, "I don't see why I should. The people that can't handle it don't see it, they trick themselves, but if they see my skill for what it is they can handle it, so why not."

"So I suppose what your trying to say," the girl said, her face a mask, "is that you think I can ''handle it''?"

"Not necessarily," Ranma said still smiling, "in a few days you might think I pulled one over on you. In the moment of the act or for a few hours or even days afterwards people know what they saw, but give 'em time and they doubt their own senses."

"I couldn't have said it better myself, Ranma," the Doctor said, moving forward and gesturing at the sleeping boy on the examination table, "but I need to interrupt you. I need to tell you about the treatments I've started."

"Hey Doc," Ranma asked, "doesn't that break the rules, something about confidentiality? Not that I mind, but they might," Ranma gestured at the twins.

"Kentaro has given me her permission to tell you. And since their Guardian isn't here, I can tell you, especially since you're their brother."

Ranma nodded for a few moments, but suddenly stopped and looked at the doctor, wide-eyed in shock.

"Say What?"

- - -

A/N: Cliffhanger (kind of), sorry.

Anyway, I wanted say a few things I forgot to in my last notes.

Firstly, the twins are twelve, so while they speak eloquently (cultured upbringing), they can be a little rude at times.

Secondly, this takes place after the Herb story arc, but before Saffron or the failed wedding story arcs. Incidentally I'm only using the Manga continuity, mostly because it's less complicated.

Again please review, and if you say something significant, I'll e-mail you back.


End file.
